With a global staff of more than 1,500 worldwide, the Jesuit Refugee Service is a key source for journalists who seek information on the latest issues on forced displacement in the world.

Journalists visiting this site have access to press releases, latest news affecting refugees and other forcibly displaced persons, updates from JRS projects and activities, speeches, special features and more.

JRS programmes are implemented through more than 50 country offices and a large network of partners, and annually benefit more than 500,000 people worldwide.

Our global network of regional communications officers, based throughout Africa, Asia, Europe and Latin America, can provide updates in emergencies and access to field staff.

NOTIFICATION OF ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING The Annual General Meeting of JRS Australia Incorporated will be held on Wednesday 5th June 2019 at The Garvan Institute, 384 Victoria St, Darlinghurst NSW 2010 starting at 4 pm. According to the Constitution, Associate…

Election Statement: Strangers No More: How Australia’s leaders can welcome, promote, protect and integrate forced migrants. As we step into the final week of the Federal Election 2019 campaign, JRS Australia is pleased to release its election policy statement, Strangers…

Work Type/s: Part Time Location: Western Sydney Applications close: 01 May, 2019. Position Description – please click here for the position description. Jesuit Refugee Service is seeking an experienced professional Caseworker to support the casework, information and referral, emergency relief and accompaniment needs…

NEWS

On the occasion of Universal Children’s Day on November 20th, we echo Pope Francis’ appeal “to adopt every possible measure to guarantee the protection and safety of child migrants.” In this time of epic human displacement, “children constitute the most vulnerable group, because as they face the life ahead of them, they are invisible and voiceless”.

“We decide who is coming here.” Malcolm Turnbull must have been hoping to gain both the conservative chops and the electoral success of former Prime Minister John Howard when he uttered these words in defence of his plans to ban asylum seekers who have arrived in Australia on boats from ever entering Australia. It was Howard of course who perfected the art of dog-whistle politics when he said in 2001 that “we will decide who comes to this country and the circumstances in which they come.”

Jesuit Refugee Service Australia (JRS) condemns Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull’s announcement that people arriving by boat to seek asylum in Australia, and currently held in Nauru and Papua New Guinea, would be banned for life from entering Australia.

National, state and local bodies have welcomed the commitment by the City of Parramatta in formalising their strong leadership in welcoming refugees into their city by becoming the latest Council to join the Refugee Welcome Zone initiative.

Migration today is not a phenomenon limited to some areas of the planet. It affects all continents and is growing into a tragic situation of global proportions. Not only does this concern those looking for dignified work or better living conditions, but also men and women, the elderly and children, who are forced to leave their homes in the hope of finding safety, peace and security. Children are the first among those to pay the heavy toll of emigration, almost always caused by violence, poverty, environmental conditions, as well as the negative aspects of globalization. The unrestrained competition for quick and easy profit brings with it the cultivation of perverse scourges such as child trafficking, the exploitation and abuse of minors and, generally, the depriving of rights intrinsic to childhood as sanctioned by the International Convention on the Rights of the Child.

Every minute of every day in 2015, around 24 people were displaced from their homes. That amounted to 34,000 people per day, worldwide, who were forced to seek refuge elsewhere. These large numbers of newly displaced persons further swelled the 16.1 million refugees in the world who, according to the UN Agency for Refugees (UNHCR), were already displaced.

The International Director of the Jesuit Refugee Service (JRS), Fr Thomas H. Smolich SJ, has appointed Fr Aloysious Mowe SJ as the Director of Advocacy and Communications at the JRS International Office in Rome. Fr Mowe currently serves as the Country Director for JRS Australia, a position he has held since January 2011. He will begin his term at the JRS International Office on 1st May 2017.

“We are at a critically important juncture where there are great opportunities for tangible changes to be made. We have seen some very promising developments in the region that can be capitalised upon.” BANGKOK, 22 September 2016 – Over a…

In this year of the Jubilee of Mercy, announced by Pope Francis, in conjunction with the Islamic pilgrimage to Mecca and on today’s occasion of the UN International Day of Peace, Catholic and Muslim leaders stand in solidarity to call upon all governments, religious institutions, and people of good-will to work together in tackling the root causes of forced migration.

The Parramatta area has been a meeting place for people of different nations and languages for many generations before the first English speakers arrived in this land. So it was fitting that a group of asylum seekers, who arrived in Australia from many lands, came together in this place to learn and share in the rich culture of the original inhabitants of the area.